An Imperfect Solution

There is no doubt we are getting healthcare reform, and in the end, Democrats will declare victory for the first meaningful progress since the 1960s, when Medicare and Medicaid were passed. Of course, in the interim, we have had legislation facilitating the development of HMOs under President Nixon and a senior pharmacy benefit under President George W. Bush, but many presidents have flailed at taking a crack at making major changes.

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Republicans will declare victory, too, for stopping many bad ideas and trying to hold the line on costs. And everyone will complain about all the things that are not in the bill President Obama will sign this year.

And everyone will be right.

What we are more likely beginning is an unraveling of business as usual and a reshuffling of the deck—and some key stakeholders won’t like the cards they will be dealt. The best way to think of what is happening in 2010 is that this is the first step toward having the healthcare system we will have in 2020.

One Out of Three

To oversimplify things, all of the talk about healthcare reform has focused on three main areas:

Increasing access for the uninsured and underinsured;

Reigning in healthcare costs; and

Designing a new system that rewards performance and safety.

At best, all we are getting is a down payment on access—and it will come with a substantial cost.

But what we are more likely beginning is an unraveling of business as usual and a reshuffling of the deck—and some key stakeholders won’t like the cards they will be dealt. The best way to think of what is happening in 2010 is that this is the first step toward having the healthcare system we will have in 2020.

Civic Obligation

It is a national embarrassment for the U.S. to be the only developed country that has not come up with a solution that offers most of its citizens access to healthcare. As a culture, we have decided that every child deserves a free education, that all families should have access to fire and police protection, and that we all should have access to due process and “an attorney who will be appointed to you if you cannot afford one.”

But right now in our country, about 47 million people live sicker and die quicker because of a healthcare system that doesn’t include them. A more sorry aspect is the “underinsured,” the constantly employed person with “good” insurance who is unfortunate enough to be diagnosed with cancer only to find out that their $1 million lifetime benefit runs out in year two or three. Those families face the tough choices between bankruptcy and foreclosure, or allowing Mom or Dad to give up another year or two or three of life. Is this the America we are living in?

Reform, Part I

To get this partial loaf of healthcare reform, Obama and Congressional leaders had to be creative. What has torpedoed previous efforts has been the vast power and reach of large, well-funded stakeholders who see any change as a threat and take a “what’s in it for me” approach. These industries have not been shy about using power and money to influence Congress and the White House, and even more insidiously have gone “direct” with advertisements and commentators who use “Harry and Louise” tactics to frighten an underinformed public about this complex process.

The Hospitalist newsmagazine reports on issues and trends in hospital medicine. The Hospitalist reaches more than 25,000 hospitalists, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, residents, and medical administrators interested in the practice and business of hospital medicine.